Le Bernardin: All Burnt Out! (Help me plan Family Meal)

I burned myself so badly on Friday night that I just don't think my foot will rebound in time. My foot! Can you believe it?

The handle of an enormous pot of salted boiling water broke and I slipped on the rubber matting and dumped it right down my ankle and into my cooking clog. Immediately I rolled up my pant leg to get the hot cloth off my skin. But my sock and shoe were the last to come off trapping the heat in for longer.

Wincing, I tried to continue with my mise en place but the burning sensation wouldn't subside. I stuck my foot in an ice bath and still the burning continued. I smeared burn gel all over it but no relief. The burn burned for five hours after the accident. Five hours! Fifteen minutes after icing and gelling, inch-high blisters started bubbling up over the top of my foot and the skin around my ankle began peeling off. Time to go to the hospital.

So much for working a double shift. And what a terrible way to end a difficult day. This week has been hard and I'm not sure why. I love my new station and I have a firm grasp on all the mise en place. I absolutely adore working with the morning staff, many who have been at the restaurant for over fifteen years and understand/embody the concept of mentoring. And I especially love cooking Family Meal. It's the highlight of my day and I've been enjoying the complimentary response from the staff.

And I would LOVE some new creative ideas that are tasty, feed over 35 people, and can be made in an hour and a half. I make a lot of fish stews (cioppino and thai curry are big hits right now) with the extra scraps from our fish butcher. Most of the fish is white and includes: black bass, striped bass, halibut, cod, monk fish, and skate. Unfortunately the scraps are all different sizes and normally not big enough to serve as whole fillets so some sort of stew or all-covering sauce works best.

I once made fish tacos with black beans, rice, salsa fresca, and gaucamole. That meal disappeared fast. Got any ideas? Recipes? For mixed fish scraps?!?!?!

Ginger – I love Calendula! It’s such a great flower with amazing healing powers. I will definitely check this out. Right now my docto has me smearing silverdine all over the burned area. He is waiting to see if the skin will grow back or if I have to get skin grafts. Uggh!!!!

I’m so sorry about your horrible burn! I don’t know how the hell you are going to work with a wound like that.
As for family meals, perhaps you could do something like chicken enchiladas Sauiza (tomatillo-Anaheim chili-creme fraiche sauce) only with fish? I’m not quite sure if it would work, but if it did, it would be spectacular! With the chicken version, usually flour tortillas are subbed in for corn.
I was happy to read that the cioppino was a hit! It’s one of my favorite meals, particularly when I have Dungeness crab. That’s the only crab I’ll eat if I have to do the shelling. The smaller gulf and east coast varieties of crabs are too much work for too little payoff and the spines on the Alaskan varieties hurt, and the meat isn’t as flavorful.
Good luck with that burn, and speedy healing! That silverdine stuff is miraculous!

My God, skin grafts? Really?? You poor thing.
Green chile is the best. It’s comfort food and very filling and fortifying. The below is my recipe for a crockpot, but can be speeded up on the stove. This is what you find in New Mexico and northern Mexico — though they like to add potatoes in Chihuahua (I WON’T give away the recipe for fried potato tacos cause that’s a state secret besides being the most disgusting starchy thing you ever ate).
I’ve never tried to expand this recipe for such a large crowd, but large crowds are fed this stuff daily on the Southwest Border.
Chile Verde Recipe
Serves/Makes: 6
Ready in: >5 hrs (crockpot)
Ingredients:
• 2 pounds pork (butt, shoulder)
• 1 large onion — coarsely chopped
• 1 large green bell pepper — coarsely
chopped
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 4 oz green chile — get 8 oz and reserve
four
• 2 jalapenos chopped, no seeds
• 8 medium tomatillos — four pureed and
four chopped
• 2 teaspoons oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried red chili peppers
• 2 teaspoons sage
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• black pepper
• 1/2 cup beer
• salt and pepper — to taste
Directions:
Coarsely chop and saute the onion and green pepper in olive oil with the garlic. Add to the crockpot along with the green chilis and tomatillos.
Trim off excess fat from the pork, cut into cubes, and brown in the pan that you sauteed the onion, etc. in. Add to crock. Add seasonings and beer. Cook on low for 8 hours or on high for 5 hours. Throw in the reserved chiles at the end, for spice and crunch.
Note:
1) I’m not a fan of the beer, but whatever. This is a variation of a Guatemalan (!) recipe I got from a friend. I subbed out chicken for pork. I think a dark Mexican beer would work. Perhaps even a chocolaty Belgian beer or one of the “smoked” German brews (Rauchbier). It’s only half a cup, so no biggie; just don’t throw Budweiser in it.
2) The tomatillos will bring an acidic taste that helps reduce the need for salt, so salt at the end of cooking, if needed.

Tons of Tartes
This one also has to be expanded for the crowd, but here you can give ’em something both tasty and light, for lunch. Maybe some bread and a gazpacho on the side. I’m trying to steal a great gazpacho recipe from someone who knows someone who made it; the intrigue and politics are ongoing, but this one has a real South American (vice Spanish) flavor to it, and I must have it. Details of the spy mission to follow, if successful.
*Right now, I can’t source this recipe. It’s not my own, so I guess it came from one of my RSS feeds on the Internet. But it was tasty enough for the Southwest Border culinary scene.
Tarte – Tomato, Goat Cheese & Onion
9 in Pie Dough, Thawed
3 tbsp Olive oil
1 onion, sliced thinly
6 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
1 lb plum tomatoes, sliced thinly
Basil, for decorating
Preheat oven to 375°F.
If necessary, roll out dough on a lightly floured surface into an 11-inch round and fit into tarte pan. Trim excess dough, leaving a 1/2-inch overhang, then fold overhang inward and press against side of pan to reinforce edge. Lightly prick bottom and sides with a fork.
Line tart shell with foil and fill with pie weights. (Bleah bleah, I know you know all this stuff.) Bake in middle of oven until pastry is pale golden around rim, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove weights and foil and bake until golden all over, 8 to 10 minutes more. Cool in pan on a rack.
While tart shell is baking, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderate heat, then cook onion with salt and black pepper to taste, stirring frequently, until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.
Preheat broiler.
Spread onion over bottom of tart shell and top with 1 rounded cup goat cheese. Arrange tomatoes, slightly overlapping, in concentric circles over cheese. Sprinkle with remaining cheese and salt and pepper to taste and drizzle with remaining tablespoon oil. Put foil over edge of crust (to prevent overbrowning).
Put tart pan on a baking sheet and broil tart about 7 inches from heat until cheese starts to brown slightly, 3 to 4 minutes.

Hi–
Long time lurker who is seriously thinking of being a chef–I love your blog!
Anyways,in terms of your fish dilemma, my mom made this amazing fisherman’s stew called Canh Chua (I’m Vietnamese)–it requires a few more ingredients than you may have, but it’s a filling, sweet/salty/sour soup that’s quite light on the palate. You may need some extra ingredients (particularly tamarind juice, which is the base of the sour flavor, and a load of fresh cumin), but otherwise it’s a beautiful, colorful, and most importantly, filling dish.
NOTE: The fish in this recipe is snapper, but any firm, white fish works–or hell, just throw all types of fish in the pot.
Ingredients
Servings: 8
4 stalks lemongrass
4 kaffir lime leaves, torn in 4
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
2 tsp sea salt, to taste
1 Tbs canola oil, use a neutral oil like peanut oil
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 shallot, thinly sliced
2 Tbs Tom-Yum paste
2 stalks taro stem (celery can be substituted)
2 whole fresh pineapples
3 Tbs tamarind powder
3 Tbs brown sugar, if necessary
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
2 cups bean sprouts
2 cups okra pods (optional), sliced in thirds
1 bunch enoki mushrooms
2 dozen straw mushrooms, quartered
15 oz snapper fish fillets
2 red Thai bird chili, cut in thirds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 cup ngò gai (or cilantro)
1/4 cup ngò om (or lemon/cumin)
Preparation
Peel the pineapples. Slice into 1-inch chunks. In a food processor, blend one pineapple into a fine puree. Add about 2 tablespoons of water if necessary to get a smoother flow. Keep the second pineapple as is. Set aside.
Slice the taro stem into thin pieces, cutting on the bias. Set aside.
Wash the lemongrass; cut each stalk into 2-inch pieces and bruise the pieces with a hammer.
In a 5-quart stockpot, bring 1-1/4 quarts of water and the vegetable broth to a boil. Add the kaffir lime, black peppercorns, pineapple puree and lemongrass. Cook for 30 minutes. Strain in a sieve. Discard the aromatics but keep one stalk of lemongrass and a few kaffir lime leaves for presentation in your soup tureen at the end. Pour the strained broth back into the stock pot.
In a small pan, heat 2 teaspoons of oil and add the straw mushrooms. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, then add the enoki mushrooms. Transfer to a plate and set aside. In the same pan, add the rest of the oil, add the chopped garlic and the chili pieces. Cook until slightly golden. Add the tom yum paste (click on the link for the recipe) and a ladle-ful of the broth. Pour all the contents of the saucepan into the big stock pot. The broth should be fragrant and properly seasoned.
Check for the sourness of the broth. Add the tamarind powder. Taste. Add the salt. Taste. Then finish with the sugar if necessary. The secret is to balance the sweetness and the saltiness. Be sure not to oversalt!
Bring the soup back to a boil then add all the mushrooms,okra (if using), tomatoes and bạc hà. After adding the ingredients, the broth may cool a bit. Let it come back to a boil for a last time, then add the fish. Cover for 5-8 minutes, then remove the pot from the stove.
Garnish with some ngò gai and ngò om. Add nước mắm (fish sauce) if necessary. It’s ready! Serve immediately.
Accompany the soup with a bowl of steamed jasmine rice. Each person spoons some rice into the bowl of canh chua.
This is something you rarely, if ever, find in Vietnamese restaurants.

Forgot to mention Re: Low-sodium vegetable broth–that’s something the blog (http://www.phamfatale.com) I ripped the recipe from substituted. You really, REALLY want to go for fish broth or stock –which should readily be on hand at your restaurant, yes? 😉

And one more, on the to-do list. I think this comes from, of all things, a movie DVD (trying to sort that one out).
This was posted by thespicehouse.com; I haven’t tried it yet.
Cochinita Pibil
*Time may be a problem given the 1.5 hour deadline.
Ingredients
5 pounds pork butt, cut into 2 inch cubes
5 tablespoons annato seeds
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1 tablespoon whole black pepper
1/2 teaspoon whole cloves
8 whole allspice berries
2 habanero Peppers, fresh or dried, cleaned and minced (optional)
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
8 garlic cloves
2 tablespoons salt
5 lemons
1 shot of tequila
banana leaves (optional)
Preparation Instructions
Grind the annato seeds, cumin seeds, whole peppercorns, whole cloves, and whole allspice in a mortar and pestle, molcajete y tejolote, spice grinder or coffe grinder.
Blend the cleaned and chopped habanero peppers with the orange juice, vinegar, garlic and salt.
Mix the dry spices with the liquid.
Add the juice of 5 lemons and a nice splash of tequila.
Place the cubed pork butt in a large zip lock bag and add the marinade. Soak 4-6 hours, in refrigerator, turning several times.
Line (8×13) baking pan with banana leaves. Pour in pork along with the marinade. Cover with Banana leaves and seal the pan with foil. Bake in a 325 F degree oven for 4 hours.
Helpful Hints
Banana leaves are optional, because I haven’t found any locally yet.
Take it easy on Habanero peppers. HOT!HOT!!HOT!!!
Preground spices can be used in place of the whole spices, but the brilliant flavor of freshly ground spices really makes this dish what it is!
(Editor’s note: It may be helpful to read the hints left in the reviews of this recipe. Another suggestion, given to us by Dennis from Rawlins, Wyoming, is to add brown sugar to the marinating mix, use limes instead of lemons, and only cook 3 to 3 1/2 hours in aluminum foil.)

Hi Ms. Glaze,
I am a home cook and have been following your blog for quite some time. I admire your perseverance. I have tried a few of your recipes several times and they were all received very well. I grew up in India and love fish stews from southern regions of the country. Try Kerala fish curries and Goan Fish curries. Here is a wonderful recipe for one type of Kerala fish curry called Fish Mappas from the Indian recipe book “Prashad” (I think, it is the best Indian cookbook):
3 lbs white fish
1/3 cup tamarind pulp
2/3 cup coconut oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 cup onion
2 tbsp grated ginger
3 tbsp grated garlic
1/2 tsp turmeric
few curry leaves (optional even though they are a wonderful addition)
4 green chillies (discard the seeds if do not want it very hot but do not eliminate)
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp fennel seed powder
1/4 tsp clove powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup coconut milk
2 tsp malt vinegar or lime juice
dissolve tamarind pulp in 7 tbsp of hot water for 10 mins
-Heat oil
-add mustard seeds until the crackle (called tarka in hindi)
-add ginger first and then garlic and stir for 2 – 3 mins
– add turmeric and salt
– add green chillies, stir
– add coriander, fennel, clove and cinnamon and allow the aromas to rise
– add half of the coconut milk and simmer for 5 mins
– add fish, bring to a boil
– add vinegar/ lime juice
– add remaining coconut milk
serve with basmati rice, lightly salted.
This stew can be many with prawns, shrimp, soft shell crabs as well.
One honest confession: while giving you this recipe I hesitated a bit because I know restaurants like the one you work in charge so much for simple dishes like this. I do not believe in that philosophy of serving overpriced food. But I respect your hard work and hope this helps.

I am sorry for leaving so many comments. Forgot to mention that the fish should be marinated in the strained tamarind paste for 20 – 30 mins.
I hope you get well soon and that the need for skin graft does not emerge.

Kedgeree – there are a million recipes, and at least 995,783 of them are really good. Most say to use smoked fish, but really, any fish will do. When I lived on the East Coast, we used haddock (because we had like 100 lbs of it in the freezer from a deep-sea fishing trip). I would imagine blending different types of white fish would be tasty. Highly recommend smoked paprika, cumin, and curry in the spice blend, but use what you like best. Don’t forget the bit of cream at the end – really helps bring it all together. Oh, and always use basmati rice, if possible. I like brown best, but white will do.
Owie on the foot – I did that to my fingers once, and had to keep them in ice water for about six hours. Will send healing thoughts your way…

When I was staying in this hostel in Cinque Terre in Italy, I once cooked a fish soup for the people staying there. There were just 10 people, mostly vacationing university student types. Picked up the fish from the fish truck that came into the village at 8 in the morning everyday and they were amazingly fresh. They had these ‘small fishes for soup’ consisting of smaller versions of whatever types of fish they cuaght that day.
Just simmered them for a fish stock with parsley, garlic and onions. Then strained it, picked out the meat from the fishes. Made the soup by frying tomatoes and garlic in olive oil, then added the stock, cooked it for a bit and then added the fish meat and cooked a bit more. I think I added basil at the end.
People liked it, even though it was simple mostly because the fish was so fresh I think. Good memories. And cooked in a hostel kitchen meant it had to be simple with no fancy knives to cut with so it was pretty rustic too.
I was actually trying to recreate the soup I had in Malta. It was also tomato-based, but they added mint to it, which really gave it a real nice & different kick than anything I’ve had before.
Hope the burn gets better soon!

Funny you should post this story now… just the other day I sliced the top of my thumb off while chopping celery! Ow! F***ing OW!
I think we can all agree that kitchens are (potentially) dangerous places. Sharp things, hot things, heavy things, infectious things… kitchens are dangerous places which need to be treated and approached with caution. You should never think that you’ve got the kitchen method “licked”.
As regards burns… the human body is amazing! How we have evolved to deal with burns I’ll never know, but please do remember that blisters are the human body’s EXCELLENT way of healing burned flesh. Liquid will be pumped into the area near the burned flesh and allowed to “balloon” under the skin to conduct the heat away from the burn and dissipate it. Don’t pop blisters – they are there for a reason. If relief from blisters or hot or burned flesh is needed, then place the affected area against something cold. Don’t pop the blister. I’ve often found that cotton wool soaked in cold water – wrapped around the burned area – is very, very effective. You can regularly re-wrap it, re-soak it and re-position it over the burn to get maximum cooling effect.
You have my every, every sympathy. I’ve suffered burns before and know how painful, scorching, miserable and debilitating they can be. They are an ongoing reminder of the mistake you made, but… yeah, they do eventually fade and heal. A metaphor for life, perhaps? The only assistance I can offer is the cotton wool thing. If you’re still in pain, try it. It really does work.
Good luck, and I wish you a speedy heal.
I’ll think of a recipe for you…

Well, there’s moussakà, of course. Is there anybody who doesn’t love it? (vegetarians don’t count)
If it seems like too much trouble, pastitsio is almost as good and definitely less fuss. Here’s my recipe:http://www.beachmedia.com/smpast.htm
Another idea, this time from the French Caribbean: Colombo. Ask Camille if she knows where to find this spice mixture. Use it with pork, chicken, fish, almost anything (in Guiane I enjoyed a stew of tapir flavoured with colombo). Serve with fried plantain and/or sweet potato.

I think I need to ask for help a little more often!
These recipes are fantastic and when I get the chance to cook them in the restaurant I will post the results online!
I tried to go back to work on Monday. I set up the station, cooked family meal, and then left to go back to the burn clinic.
I’ll be out of work this week but I can’t wait to go back and cook these recipes. I’ll be doing a lot of menu planning until then.
Merci Bien!
Bises,
Ms. Glaze

You poor poor girl. As a fellow cook i feel for you tremendously. Please give your injury the respect it deserves. Don’t give in to the overwhelming and crushing cooks code of honor that says you must be back at work immediately and work like nothing happened. Take time to heal properly. When i was opening my current restaurant i turned a common cold into pneumonia through 100 hour work weeks. After you are healed you can give comida that love and care that everyone appreciates.
P.S. Do you still like that Misono? I’ve been wanting that one for a while.

Kevin – Man, you just nailed it. I went back into work on Monday and it was a stupid decision. Now I’m out for the whole week. You always feel that there will be no one to cover your station, but there always is. The show must go on. I just hate burdening other people to “make it happen”.
Also, I’m not really in love with my misono (the carbon steel one). It requires a lot of attention. If I were to buy again I would probably purchase the Misono UX10 or the 440. The blades are a little thinner and they stay sharper longer and they don’t react with acidic foods. However my knife is very easy to sharpen (by stone) and I do like that aspect.

One more classic – fish pie (can you tell I lived in Scotland?). Even though it’s really just a thick fish stew in a pie crust, the pastry seems to give it a bit more panache. Well, maybe a kitchen full of chefs won’t think so, but company always does. Hoping you heal fast…

ouch, so sorry! Good thing you don’t work this week, burns are not funny.
I don’t know if meatballs, sorry, fishballs would be considered enough for staff meal? I have this fake-thai recipe, just mix/pulse everything together and form balls or whatever and fry. Taste even better after a couple of hours in the fridge.
fish scraps
coconut milk
cilantro
light soy sauce
ginger
garlic
sweet chili sauce
fish sauce

I actually have a question about Family Meal; why the deuce is it so important, more than service? Because that’s how it’s come across to me in recent work. I’m going to apply my best efforts to service, not to feeding staff. And when I need to choose between the two, which happens often, I choose customers over staff. Don’t get me wrong..I eat staff meal with everyone else so of course I’m going to do the best I can. But. Customers compliments mean more to me than staffs’. Is this ass backwards?

Ugh! Poor you! I only teach now, but remember worrying that an injury would affect my performance.
What if you took all the scraps and made, in essence, ‘fish nuggets and chips’- batter them and throw them in the deep fryer, make some fries or waffle chips- take scraps from all the veg prep and make a colcannon or even a gratin with a white sauce- it can all be kept warm or fried last minute. Something I made as family meal the day before my fish delivery – hope you heal well! Cheers!

Irishcook – I haven’t done fish and chips yet, but it’s definitely on my radar. What do you put in your batter? Do you use yeast?
Chefgal – Family meal is very VERY important and it is taken seriously by our executive chef. Putting out a delicious family meal doesn’t mean that my mise en place will suffer or my performance during service. It does mean that I care about my work, the people I work with, and understand the importance of setting the tone and the esprit for the day.
Simply because you cook a good family meal does not mean that you don’t cook well for the clientele. I guess I don’t really understand your comment…
Hande! Thanks for the recipe! Fish balls sound a little scary, but I can give it a go! I like the ingredients. What do you serve with it?
TInfoiled- Thanks! I’m bored out of mind, but recovering 😉
Greg- Yes, this is perhaps one of the stupidest things I’ve done to myself. It does such very bad.

Family meal, I found, cut way into my mise en place sometimes and at those times it cut into my dinner service. It was a smaller venue for dinner and we fed all staff; housekeeping, front desk, etc. At the time I was the Executive Chef and wish I’d been able to delegate it and that still would have prevented kitchen staff from helping me prep for dinner service.
Yes the staff pay for and are deserving of a wonderful meal. I’ve seen staff meals become necessary evils when the menu has been amped up from pasta and meat dishes into fancier, more involved dishes.

For those fish and chips – Here’s a great batter for almost anything, and it’s…GLUTEN-FREE. :> Got this from Ming Tsai’s show years ago.
1 cup rice flour
1 tbsp baking powder
seltzer water/club soda
Mix until consistency of pancake batter. Dip your food to coat, then fry. Comes out light and crunchy, like a good tempura. This batter is perfect for fish.
You can make as much as you need, keeping the same proportions. You can also add whatever spices you like to jazz up the batter.
Make sure you use sparkling water or club soda, and not plain water – the carbon dioxide helps keep the batter light.

hmm..sound fun to mise en place for family meal..im sure you can do it..maybe u can try curry dishes include too..please take care of your foot.. try not to eat seafood such like prawn and squid except any types of fish. ^^

Hande – I’m going to have to give these fishballs a go. I just received an email from another cook who saw your comment and he added his recipe (very similar to yours).
ShroomChef- Yes curry dishes are excellent for mixed fish. I would love some Southern Indian recipes if anyone has any?!?!?
SAS – I love tempura batter. It’s quick and it’s light. And of course, yours is GLUTEN FREE too!!!!
Chefgal- If I was the executive chef, I certainly would NOT have the time to make family meal. But I have a full hour in my schedule that is only for making the meal. It’s fun for me. It’s the one time in the day where I get to be creative. Not fancy, but creative. It’s got to be quick, simple, and tasty otherwise my other mise will suffer. Organizational skills and the ability to multi-task really help too!

I’m so sorry you have those nasty burns. Please take care of yourself & let us know how you’re doing. Sorry, I don’t really have a recipe for you, but it looks like you’ve already gotten several great ones. Take care of yourself & drink lots of water.

Rightwingsnarkle – Oh lordy, your website has me in stitches. Thanks for including me on your “interesting shit” column! I’m honored 😉
Pam – It’s been over a week now and my foot looks pretty much the same as it did when I burned it. I’ll find out more from the doc on Monday. I’m stressing about not being at work and wish this would hurry up and get better!

A neighbors little girl was badly burned when an oil lamp tipped over onto her arm, and her father, being a nature boy, fillet’d some giant aloe leaves (three inches across) and duck-taped them to her arm, changing them every other day, (dad-magic – gotta love it), which left her Perfectly healed inside of one week. You might find them if you ask around at Pure Food and Wine, the raw restaurant? (Raw people are into aloe). Or any raw health food place. Or maybe a Latino market? Well known burn remedy.
Also, DeCleor, the French skin care company, makes a burn cream that a lot of plastic surgery offices use because it heals sutures with no scaring. Might look into that.

Thanks, Ms Glaze. Love yer blog, too.
It’s food-oriented without getting all obsessive-foodie, which makes me crazy.
Maybe that’s because you actually work with the stuff?
Good luck with your burns. Go with aloe and vitamin e, all the way. You can pick up some good aloe gel at your local CVS.

Perhaps, if you can get your hands on some yellow rice or saffron, you could make some sort of paella. Cook the rice in the chicken broth with onions and garlic, saute whatever vegetables and fish pieces you have on hand in olive oil (especially peppers and eggplant), toss in some of the canned tomatoes, and mix it up. Delicious.
I hope your burns are better soon!

Ms. Glaze, I hope you are on the mend. That experience must have been awful and not seeing any progress quite dispiriting.
My first thoughts on your request, at least from more of a consumer side, would be a bouillabaisse, a Catalan Suquet, or a fish tagine.